'Bailout Bill' in Manhattan's Times Square Offers Bailout Money for the Little Guy

The term "Bailout Bill" conjures up the political maneuvering happening on Capitol Hill as our nation's senators attempt to wrestle a nearly trillion dollar stimulus package into a neat package that the American public will support. However, in Manhattan's Times Square, the folks there have a different notion of what a Bailout Bill is. There, Bailout Bill is listening to the stories of down on their luck New Yorkers and dispensing a little stimulus of his own - anywhere from $50 to $5,000. According to the BBC, hundreds have waited in line for hours just to tell Bailout Bill their hard luck story and receive a bit of cash for sharing their money woes with him.

Bailout Bill to take his Bailout Booth on the road

According to the BBC, Bailout Bill will be spreading his wealth in cities other than the Big Apple. In the near future, those down on their luck Americans in the Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. areas should look for Bailout Bill and his Bailout Booth to make an appearance. Do you live too far away to pay Bailout Bill a visit in his Bailout Booth? Stop by www.bailoutbooth.com and leave your hard luck story and perhaps you, too, can get some of his bailout cash.

Is Bailout Bill's generosity just unique website promotion?

Bailoutbooth.com is a website that offers a video service that costs just under $10 per month per service. Tying a business model to YouTube-like videos designed to help land a job or a hot date, the website bills itself as "classified advertising for a new generation". Will site visitors come to the site only because they seek free money? Or will they flock to the site to upload a video of the car they are attempting to sell? Is Bailoutbooth.com catching the wave of a new advertising medium as yet largely untapped? Giving away loads of money sure would generate a fair amount of PR buzz about the site.

Fredericksburg, Virginia-area Church has done something similar to Bailout Bill and his Bailout Booth with reverse tithing

The Free-Lance Star reported last weekend that the pastor of Life Point Church in Spotsylvania, Virginia surprised his congregation by giving $12,000 back to church members. After the weekly collection, a second basket was passed. Church members each took a sealed envelope out of the collection basket and were directed to not give the money back to the church, but to bless someone else with the money and to tell the story of how they impacted another's life with the money. Envelopes could contain as little as $10 or as much as $1,000. To help the congregation with the storytelling aspect of the pastor's request, a blog was set up so that church members could easily share their gift giving stories. A glimpse at the blog postings that appear on the newly minted blog speak of pooling money to help out a single mom, helping a struggling college student, helping a poor child afford a coat and so much more.

Sources:

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/012009/01312009/442306/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/newsbeat/newsid_7869000/7869277.stm

Life Point Church blog: http://www.visitlifepoint.org/blog/?p=5

http://bailoutbooth.com/index.php?action=Bailout_Bill